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Inspiring pupils
with a desire to learn is the key to success says G.V.S.Nageswara
Rao. He agrees with views of Rousseau quoted by C. John Sommerville,
chapter. 12 in his book ‘Rise and Fall of Childhood’ “When a child
is self-motivated, the teacher cannot keep him from learning “
The students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Visakhapatnam were made to
read real stories of struggle for water.
“Eight districts in Andhra Pradesh are
chronically drought hit.” “Some farmers of Andhra Pradesh
committed suicide due to loss of crops caused by severe
droughts….” “Long queue and regular quarrels are the scenes for
collecting drinking water in cities.” “The water level is falling
down in the reservoirs…” etc.
The SUPW teacher G.V.S.Nageswara Rao could no longer ignore the
volatile situation and posed the required question “Can we do some
thing to save the water?” In response to this question the teacher
could initiate the whole class towards a project supported
by technology to implement the practice of water conservation in
and around the school.
The students started the project with a survey in the school
campus to find out the available water resources, quantity of
water pumped out, distribution and use. Parallel study was done on
wastage of water, reasons and its reduction. They collected the
data on MS Excel and made the calculations. “This promoted
collaborative learning among the students” affirms the teacher.
The students learnt that 60% of water was being wasted due to lack
of judicious use.
After searching different websites to find out the effects of
falling ground water level and the condition of drought hit areas-
reasons for it were studied like growing population, established
industries, urbanization and contamination . The teacher observed
that “the use of technology led to promotion of the inquiry-based
learning.” He substantiates “they also got to know that water
harvesting is not new to our forefathers but that was neglected
during the post independence period. By mixing up the traditional
methods with the latest innovative techniques we can make the
situation better.”
Once the situation was studied, the implementation process
started. Areas were identified like the school hostels, staff
quarters, Bakkanapalem village, Kommadi village and a near by
Engineering college campus. Right from writing the data to
printing out the banners almost all the work was performed with
use of technology to enhance the quality. The message of the
project was conveyed effectively by the multimedia presentation.
The voice narration along with play back music was recorded and
animations were specially created to make the project
self-explanatory.
The efforts put in by students under direction of the teacher are
benefiting the community. Rallies, meetings, handouts, models,
role-plays, songs, skits, cartoons and posters have helped to
promote the habit of conserving. The methods like digging of
recharge pits near the wells, roof water harvesting, diverting the
roof water in to the recharge pits, diverting the waste water to
the plants have been suggested and implemented in the concerned
areas. A canal has been dug for water diversion in the villages of
Bakkanapalem and Kommadi. Proper use and maintenance of bore wells
has been explained by the students and the villagers are acting
upon it.
“The appreciation received from all the quarters has boosted the
morale of the students. This has enabled them to polish their
problem solving and thinking skills. They have also realized the
importance of technology.” exclaims the teacher G.V.S.Nageswara
Rao.
In the school areas unavoidable flow of water near dining hall was
diverted towards the kitchen garden and the playgrounds and
leaking taps were repaired. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya is a
residential school managed by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti under the
Ministry of Human resource and development centre.
Hopefully if all students grow up as aware citizens, the city will
be proud to host tourists in future too as it has unspoilt beaches
and a first of its kind in South East Asia -a submarine museum.
The city has interesting history .It is named after the god of
valour, Visakha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, who is also the
ruler of the planet Mars and the god of war. Among the Western
nations, the Dutch were the first to settle in Visakhapatnam for
trade purposes in or about 1682. Visakhapatnam is sometimes
reffered to as Waltair -its British colonial name. Whatever the
city is reffered as, that’s for sure, it will be known as wise
residents city as the the diggers of information equip themselves
with technology for fast success and go ahead fearlessly to tackle
situations and issues of this tourist destination.
Mr. G.V.S. Nageswara Rao is the winner of Intel® Awards
Contest 2005. The details of his project can be seen at
http://www.educationinindia.net/html/ia2005_tshowcase.htm |
